The dungeon levels are detailed in Dungeon #112, as well as in Wikipedia @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maure_Castle
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As detailed in fragments Afelbain's Diary (in Dungeon #112, pages 88–89), the following additional levels exist below Maure Castle: 2nd The Retreat, 3rd Old Laboratories and Testing Chambers, 4th Dark Tunnels, 5th Old Dungeon, 6th Chambers of Antiquities, 7th The Statuary, 8th The Greater Halls, 9th The Family Crypts, 10th The Reliquary, 11th The Outer Sanctum, 12th The Treasury, 13th The Old Caves, 14th Elluvia's Pit, 15th Warlock's Walk, 16th The Cells, 17th The Furnaces, 18th Our Master's Level.[2]
Additional information about the Maure Castle dungeon levels is also revealed in James Jacobs' "Demonomicon of Iggwilv" article on Malcanthet in Dragon #353 (Elluvia's Pit is specifically mentioned).[7]
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I don't believe that we know much about the upper works/castle levels of Maure Castle itself, though. I did adventure in Castle El Raja Key in 2007, but it's not necessarily the same as MC, either. I don't recall if there's any additional info in the El Raja Key Archive on MC upper works, but it's worth checking if you've got a copy: http://www.tlbgames.com/collections/archive
Some interesting tidbits dropped by Rob in an article entitled "Advent of the Elder Ones: Mythos vs. Man in the Lake Geneva Original Campaign, 1973-1976", which is published in AFS#2, in case folks aren't aware of this new old-school publication. Details @ http://hallsoftizunthane.blogspot.com/
Recently reprinted on Facebook by Rob @ https://www.facebook.com/threelinestudio/posts/2842385839126862
So have you settled the debate of who Y is, and who his superior is?
~KGM
No. Until Rob comes out and says so, everything is speculation.
Rob's article from AFS#2 will help answer those Qs, and he just shared it on Facebook today: see https://www.facebook.com/threelinestudio/posts/2842385839126862
From what has been posted over the last few years, it seems highly unlikely that Uncle will be writing and releasing any more of the levels under Maure Castle.
That seems likely, but there is quite a bit of additional material published on MC; see info/details in the Wikipedia article at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maure_Castle
Does the Maure Castle forum have a new URL? I can't access it when trying to get there from http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/olderProducts/dungeon/ maureCastle (the site just redirects me to the home page).
This has been previously reported at http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2u8ie?Website-Loop-Back-Issue#9 and at http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2u8db?Website-Loop-Back-Issue#2
Alright, I've got the fix in place for this issue, and you should be able to get the pages you're after now. If you run into anything else, please let us know :)
Chris: the Maure Castle forum is still suffering this problem, as described in a parallel thread @ http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2u8db?Website-Loop-Back-Issue
I've noticed this too, with some older Maure Castle forums URLs @ http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/olderProducts/dungeon/ maureCastle and http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoInc/olderProducts/dungeon/maureCa stle both inconsistently redirecting to the main page.
Andor: have you read RJK's article in AFS#2, "Article – Advent of the Elder Ones: Mythos vs. Man in the Lake Geneva Original Campaign, 1973-1976"? It may shed some further light on your thoughts here.
Did we ever get further clarification on the possible location of the Warlock's Walk octych?
It appeared in location 29 of the D20 version of warlock's walk. Its an addition not found in the AD&D notes.
Ah, I've not done an A/B comparison between those two versions, thanks Lawmonger!
Lawmonger wrote:
I prefer the AD&D set up - the addition of the octych in Warlock's Walk doesn't really make sense to me, as Dungeon #112 says the disciples of Slerotin scattered them across the world?
Agreed, in general; however...
Andor the Wise wrote:
I would imagine that over a period of a thousand years...someone would have located at least one...hmm? And who better than the Maure themselves?
...that's an interesting take on the locations too! :D
Are there any other gamers out there that have thought along these lines? If so, how well do you think the Chamber of Antiquities would adapt for the Starstone? Would one level suffice, or would Warlock's Walk need to be added as well?
I'm not familiar with Golarian, so I can't help, sorry Brother Ben.
I recommend posting your Qs either to one of Rob's blog posts about the game, or over on the World of Kalibruhn forum @ http://ruinsofmurkhill.proboards.com/board/62/kalibruhn-world-robert-kuntz
And sure enough the question of the location of the Octychs has come up. So as I gather, these are the locations of Octychs we know about:
** spoiler omitted **
Now that's interesting: I wasn't aware that
Spoiler:
Warlock's Walk contained an octych.
I just checked the original manuscript and it's not mentioned in there (nor is the word "triangle"), so I wonder if this was added to the
Spoiler:
d20 version of Warlock's Walk published in OJ#23?
Some quick research found an octych mentioned in the possession of the ruling house of the Duchy of Urnst, as discovered in their vaults by the Seer of Unrst (OJ23, p. 24). He appropriated the octych, then lost it in the nearby ruins of Inverness. That summarizes the octych's presence in OJ23, and there's not one found in the Warlock's Walk trials themselves, so far as I can tell.
So, it looks like the known locations are still just:
Spoiler:
1. Castle Greyhawk.
2. Dragotha's Lair
3. Ghost Tower of Inverness
4. One possibly in Mordenkainen's possession?
Some interesting tidbits dropped by Rob in an article entitled "Advent of the Elder Ones: Mythos vs. Man in the Lake Geneva Original Campaign, 1973-1976", which is published in AFS#2, in case folks aren't aware of this new old-school publication. Details @ http://hallsoftizunthane.blogspot.com/
The "Power" in Absolute Power is a reference to the Power Magic of the Suel, which (in my view) could have been unlocked by collecting the Octychs and untangling the eight adventures they led to.
So Eric, did you ever outline the rest of the Absolute Power series?---would love to see that rounded out someday :D
El Raja Key was created before Rob began to co-DM Greyhawk, and does feature dungeon levels designed for low-level PC play. Maure Castle, while loosely based on and associated with El Raja Key, is in fact a separate collection of castle ruins and dungeon levels.
Rob's doing a Q&A session if you want to ask him some more specifics about his thoughts from the interview: http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2011/08/q-time-with-rob-kuntz.html
No kidding Grodog. Lost Erik-hawk lore is something I wish I could buy.
Hey Erik---
Did you ever outline the rest of the Absolute Power adventures, or sketch out some other parts of the series? You seems to have tied daemons into the series from early on, which is a nice touch, since they don't seem to get as much play as demons in Greyhawk.
I was thinking of having the PCs be some of those first adventurers to open and explore the upper levels of Maure Castle - i.e., the unmapped ones.
I am curious, has anyone else ever done something similar? Or are you aware if there are any fan maps of those "looted" levels?
I'm not aware of any maps like that, offhand, but they may be out there. You might consider posting the same Q to some other Greyhawk boards like Canonfire!, too.
I stand corrected :D but also forgot to ask Rob about this at the North TX RPG Con. Pop a Q into one of his recent blog posts, and I'm sure he'll respond.
I'll see if Rob can stop by and chime in here with some more-authoritative input...
Rob's pretty swamped (getting ready to move), but asked me to pass this along:
Rob Kuntz via email to grodog wrote:
EGG and I surmised a location of ERK synonymous with the location of Maure Castle on the GH outdoor map. I switched the two when coming to
creating Maure Castle, however, for IP reasons--didn't need WotC owning yet the third castle/namesake from the 1972-1973 triumvirate. WG5 does indeed equate to the outer precincts of ERK that EGG's PCs discovered. There is no cross-over in the primary sense when you strip away all else for IP reasons. WG5 remained in place, but the Castles switched. I really miss doing Maure, btw, as it was a great story line. Perhaps I shall finish it as a novel, as my proclivities these days are running more and more towards writing fiction than doing loads of design work.--RJK
From my POV they are in fact different, but closely-related, dungeons: ERK was Rob's original campaign dungeon for the Kalibruhn campaign setting (like Castles Blackmoore and Greyhawk were the campaign dungeons for those settings). Maure Castle was the "equivalent" to ERK in Greyhawk, but as outlined in Dungeon 112, the original levels of MC don't align (to my understanding) of the original levels in ERK. So, I think there is definitely cross-pollination going on, I'm just not sure how much the two are "the same": if it's only 30% that's potentially a big difference vs. say 70-80% similarity.
I'll see if Rob can stop by and chime in here with some more-authoritative input....
I believe that the original three levels (from WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure) were discovered by Tomorast, and that they were side/adjunct levels to the main Maure Castle dungeons. My guess it that they were created by Uncle or another scion of the family, but I think that's a good question to ask Rob: poke him over on the PPP boards @ http://piedpiperpublishing.yuku.com/forums/27 and he should respond.
How did you tie in return of the 8 with age of worms?
Spoiler:
doesnt return have the players rescuing Tenser, and isnt he already around and mentoring various wizards in AoW?
Offhand, I can think of several ways to tie together Rot8 and AoW:
a) if running Rot8 mostly-as-written:
Spoiler:
1. add some bits of lost lore about Kyuss to Tenser's Keep (also good lead-ins to Maure Castle that way, too)
2. have some of the AoW NPCs be the representatives who pull the PCs into the mix, instead of the background as-written in Rot8 (i.e., replace Jallizari with Allustan)
3. have some of the raiders that Iuz hired originate from within Diamond Lake, and/or change some of the background for the DL NPCs to worship Iuz
b) if running AoW mostly-as-written:
Spoiler:
1. change clues from DL/WC/AGoW to point to The Fortress of Unknown Depths/Tenser as sources to learn about Kyuss (heck, replace the whole "Library of Last Resort" with Tenser's Fortress)
2. insert the rescue of Tenser into AoW as a part of that plot; perhaps Dragotha/Lashonna/Kyuss fear Tenser's return---in particular---for some reason, and PCs are the ones who realize his criticality (replace Iggwilv with X above)
3. place Dragotha's phylactery in Tenser's artifact vault in Rot8, and leave the fortress as-is so that PCs must a) try not to loot everything in sight (Tenser is/was LG, afterall), and b) must still explore the keep pretty thoroughly to find the phylactery
This article may be of interest: http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=News&file=article& sid=268 It is content cut from my Living Greyhawk Journal article in Dragon 294, and includes some sample artifacts with means of destruction/nullification, and some general advice on using artifacts in your campaigns.
I had completely forgotten about this second Octych in the Worms AP... My players are 2 modules ahead of it. I can expect them to be owners of 2 octychs shortly (well, provided they succeed in defeating some very old undead dragon...).
If its problematic, you could always remove the second octych: there's nothing in that adventure of the following ones that require it to be present.
Spoiler:
Egocentrix wrote:
Mmmh after the AP, they will get the attention of so many more powers and factions (after Iggwilv, Iuz, the Circle of Eight, the thieves and Assassin's guilds of Greyhawk, the Seekers to name of few who could be harmful...)! If they manifest any interest in Maure Castle I think the Scarlet Brotherhood at least should attempt something before the end.
To that list, I would consider adding: various other independent NPCs like Mordenkainen, Circle of Eight, Rary, Drax, Vecna, etc. Or, perhaps some new evil group seeking the octychs for their own nefarious ends (this is what Mona started to do with his "Absolute Power" modules).
Spoiler:
Egocentrix wrote:
Thks for the suggestions above. I definitely need to design something now about the demi-planes... May be I can use the part about Kyuss in Elder Evils and design some epic additional adventure. Anyone knows if this could be relevant (I ordered it on Amazon a few days ago)?
I can't help you there, as I don't own that book.
Spoiler:
Egocentrix wrote:
Or populate one of the demi-planes with another world (one of the Green Ronin or Necromancer Games campaigns perhaps).
Definitely a possibility: you could always boost Vault of Larin Karr into a demi-planar dungeon level, or toss them into Lance Hawvermale's Hawkmoon setting, which is rather close to GH in feel (it could be a sister world of sorts). Dropping them into Grim from FFG could also be interesting.
Someone above suggested the demi-planes from Q1 which is another good idea, as would be using some of the Fading Lands (first created by Carl Sargent; I catalogued a bunch of them at http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_sites.html as well, and Canonfire! has done at least one postfest on them, and several more were detailed in articles (just search for "Fading Lands" without quotation marks) and in the Oerth Journal, too (see my index for pointers, though it's likely not current).
Other ideas: send them to Luna (see Return of the Eight for some ideas), or to some of the various other demi-planes already hinted at/published (EX1/2; WG6; Greek Myths area, etc. from S4; X2's Averoigne is a great candidate, too, as is the Forest of Lanterns DCC from Goodman Games). Send them forward or backward in time (Land of the Lost/Lost World/At the Earth's Core). Etc.
Gygax's Hall of Many Panes may have some interesting ideas to pillage here, too, but I've heard it's very uneven, so I wouldn't pick it up just for this if you don't already have it.
Spoiler:
Egocentrix wrote:
Are the Maure Castle levels of Dungeon easy to upscale for an epic party ?
